good morning to you. it is monday, happy labor day. it's september 5th. this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello.

we begin from drought stricken texas where people have died as a result the wildfires. a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed when flames took their mobile home. one is now threatening 1,000 homes. central texas dealing with the worst fire season ever. a record 3 1/2 million acres have burned. tropical depression lee has gotten weaker, but it is unloading lots of rain as it marches north from the gulf. louisiana and mississippi have seen flooding and power outages already. there was a lot of concern about new orleans. but the mayor says the city is okay. even though we've got nearly a foot of rain. some people in south alabama believe the storm sent them a tornado. >> i didn't hear it. all i heard ws wind. if it was wind, it was a held of

a wind. >> the lights went out, they came back on and then everything opened up. it was like a machine gun going off. >> lee's leftovers could dump more rain on upstate new york, new jersey and vermont. the last places that need more rain, right? because of irene. let's check on lee's track with rob marciano. not more rain. >> the people that are getting the rain are the one that is don't need it. lee not exactly helping things in texas. not only not giving rain but adding to the wind. this very strong front for for this time of year will interact and cause issues. here's the radar. rain and radar indicated tornadoes in some spots across the florida panhandle. southern mississippi and southern alabama as well. we're starting to get drier air wrapped into this. that will limit the amount of convection. mississippi seeing a decent amount of rainfall at the moment. here it is on the satellite picture. there you see the bone dry texas

air wrapping its way into what is left of tropical storm lee. now a tropical depression. there's the movement expected to move to the north and east as it interacts with this cold front. as it does so, it will continue to be windy across the east side of the state. rains will increase across the tennessee valley from chattanooga to knoxville. it does stretch up into the northeast going through time. could see a couple of inches in the next two days and then maybe a little bit more after that. hurricane katia, northwesterly moving at 11 miles per hour. 100 miles per hour wind now. finally getting organized the way we thought it would be. maybe a major hurricane. there's your forecast track, carol. much, feeling much better about katia this morning than i did this time on friday. that's good news. looks like it will turn away from the u.s. we'll watch the remnants of lee

moving towards the east coast. >> that's celebratory news. thank you very much, rob marciano. we'll talk about lee and katia. let's talk about irene. it's gone. but of course, it's left deep scars. president obama offering government help to the people whose homes or businesses were flooded out. he visited northern new jersey for a firsthand at what people were dealing with there. this is where the passaic river spilled out of its banks and caused very much damage. >> the entire country is behind you. we are going to make sure that we provide all the resources that are necessary in order to help these communities rebuild. >> flood warnings were still in effect for parts of passaic and compton rivers. now some news not about weather. check out these pictures. mitt romney is speaking to the tea party. he hasn't spent much time courting the tea party but last night he spoke at a rally in concord, new hampshire.

he said yes, he can fix the economy. >> we have zero confidence, zero faith in a president who created zero jobs. it's time for someone who knows how to create jobs and get our economy going and that's something i know. that's in my wheelhouse. i'll get america working again. >> another tea party group protested romney's appearance. they said it was a photo-op. romney will be in south carolina today. senator jim demint is hosting a forum. demint is the champion on capitol hill. he told us that the movement is misunderstood. >> there's no the tea party. i mean, a lot of obama and a lot of the democrats, folks in the media kr have tried to speak of the tea party in derogatory terms and suggest that it's a small right wing group. but over 70% of americans think we need to balance our budget and stop adding to the debt. that's pretty much what the tea

party is. >> in libya right now, rebel forces are surrounding one of moammar gadhafi's last strongholds. the rebels extended the deadline for gadhafi's forces to surrender until saturday. but they could storm this city at any time now because negotiations for a cease-fire fell apart. they may use small planes to -- they don't have specific information about clocks. but they have state and local law enforcement to be aware and vigilant given the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 is next sunday. the department of homeland security and the fbi sent out the bulletin on friday. we told you about an apple employee losing an iphone prototype. at a san francisco bar. we're learning new information as police and the tech giant team up to track that phone down. but first, it's time for our quote of the day.

"polls? no. they're for strippers and cross-country skiers. we'll tell you who said that. it's six minutes past the hour. . it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. [ male announcer ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research and powerful screeners to build a diversified portfolio with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. and we'll help you every step of the way.

with 5-star research and free education covering everything from the basics to advanced investing strategies. start now and we'll give you up to $500 and let you trade free for 60 days. visit our website, call us, open an account. e-trade. investing unleashed. it is seven minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. happy labor day to you. let's get back to the quote of the day. this is a quote. "polls? no they're for strippers and kos

country skiers. that was sarah palin talking to a group of poll. this is her actual quote. >> polls? no, they're for strippers and cross-country skiers. [ applause ] but polls in those parts actually show that some people there believe that the economy has actually improved. see, there may not be a recession in georgetown, but there is in the rest of america. >> sarah palin taking a dig at political polls while talking about the economy. by the way,she's not said whether she's running in 2012. but she's put in third place behind perry and romney as the republican choice for a nominee. time for an update on the so-called lost iphone and let's

go to christy lou stout live in hong kong. christy lou, this iphone prototype 5 was lost at a bar somewhere, left behind, and apple is investigating? >> reporter: that's right. there's new wring am to the story. we have learned that san francisco police helped apple search a man's home. they were looking for that prototype. it's a next generation iphone. that employee left behind the bar in san francisco. four officers escorted apple investigate rs to a home in a neighborhood. the two apple employees, they searched the home while the police waited outside. we learned all this from a police news release that came with the name iphone 5.doc. san francisco police are not discussing what it is. apple is not commenting. but we all kind of know. >> i can't believe -- so apple employees went into another apple employee's home and

actually searched the home for this prototype? >> to another man. not an apple employee. while the police were waiting outside. the legal ramifications here, not clear on. but still an amazing story. >>. >> it is an amazing story. let's get to amazon, though. amazon is getting ready to make big changes. tell us what they are. >> reporter: that's right. they're testing a major redesign of its website. this according to the wall street journal. it's said to be more sleek, fewer buttons, more white space and bigger area for search. the site focuses more on digital goods, music and e-books rather than toys and clothing. these changes are expected to make them more user friendly on tablet computers. amazon is set to introduce its own tablet computer. as for the reveal of this home page, amazon not saying just yet. carol? >> kristi lu stout.

thank you. the top republican candidate to his state for tough questions. if senator jim demint about to make a presidential king maker. more on demint in 90 seconds. it's 11 minutes past the hour. naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. any questions? no. you know...

♪ we're not magicians ♪ we can't read your mind ♪ ♪ read your mind ♪ we need your questions ♪ each and every kind ♪ every kind ♪ will this react with my other medicine? ♪ ♪ hey, what are all these tests even for? ♪ ♪ questions are the answer ♪ yeah ♪ oh minds this labor day. obama has taken some flack for moving his jobs speech to the same night as the nfl opener.

here's comedian jay leno's take. >> president obama agreed to move his jobs speech from september 7th to the 8th. it's the same night as football season starts. the difference is obama's plan has more hail mary's. one thing approximate obama, he knows how to promote. look how they're promoting the speech before the game. >> are you ready for some talking? are you ready for some optimistic revelry? are you ready to be listening? i'm going to talk about jobs and stuff like this ♪ with the presidential speech -- >> yeah. >> actually, that might work. president obama should try that. time for your political ticker with pamela kirk land with morning briefing in washington. don't you think that would be a good way to set up the speech on thursday for the president?

>> i think that might be a fantastic way. get the people excited about the speech. ramp them up. people will be paying more attention to the speech on jobs than the actual football game, i think. >> actually, it's sad because the american people would rather watch football than an important job speech from the president anyway. let's talk about the republicans now. the republicans, the presidential candidates are gathering in columbia, south carolina for that big forum held by senator jim demint. mitt romney was not going to do, but now he is? >> that's right. he was going to skip the event and there was speculation that because of governor rick perry's rise in the polls that the romney camp changed their mind. however, his spokesperson is saying that they were able to rearrange a few events and that's the reason he'll be able to participate today. he'll be in new hampshire early this morning for a breakfast event and then travel to columbia, south carolina, later today for the senator's presidential forum.

>> basically, what this forum is, two republican lawmakers, jim demint and one other will be asking questions of the candidates. how much influence will this really have on the republican primary? >> we'll have to see. there's been a lot of comparison for this event to the 008 event with then senator barack obama, senator john mccain and reverend rick warren. this time, we're going to have a q and a with senator demint, congressman steve king of iowa and robert george, the founder of the american principles project. they'll get about 20 minutes with each candidate with a one-on-one. this isn't a typical debate format. it will be interesting to see the candidates getting grilled hard about conservative principals today. >> let's talk about the new york times columnist. she wrote in the new york times an editorial questioning whether president obama was one and done. this is the quote from her editorial. "maybe obama was not even the person he was waiting for."

ouch. not owe overly complimentary of the president. but this was harsh. >> that last line of that piece is definitely the kicker. maureen dowd runs down a list of jokes at the president's expense. number two on david letterman's top ten. what is the president going to do on labor day. pretty much whatever republicans tell him he can do. depending which blog you look at, the consensus needs to be the president is in trouble if maureen dowd is writing the one is dancing on the emg of one term. >> maureen dowd has been critical of president obama in the past. but it seems many, many liberals are overly critical of president obama right now. which makes me wonder what he has to say thursday to bring anyone to his side. >> right. it sounds like the advisers for the president are kind of

tamping down expectations for the jobs speech on thursday. we'll have to wait and see exactly what the president has got up his sleeve and just listen closely to what he says on thursday during that speech on jobs. >> pamela kirk land, many thanks. morning briefing on sirius podis radio. rebels in libya surrounded the last city loyal to moammar gadhafi. could be they're preparing for a final battle. we'll explain just ahead. first, it is labor day. dedicated to the social and economic achievement of the american worker. the first labor day was celebrated september 5, 1882, with a march. but there are lots of ways to mark the day, whether it's a parade, a barbecue or the time-honored tradition of the eating contest. sonya thomas scar fd down 13 wings in 12 minutes to win the chicken wing eating championship in buffalo. hope she brought pepto with her. it's 18 minutes past the hour. ♪ i've been waiting

♪ for a snack like you ♪ to come into my life [ female announcer ] lean cuisine has snacks! like creamy cheesy spinach artichoke dip with warm pita. new from lean cuisine®. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®.

20 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. here are three things to put on your radar this week. this thursday, the president delivers his plan to create jobs and strengthen the economy in front of a joint session of congress. we'll get a preview of his speech when he delivers his labor day address in detroit. a city hard hit by unemployment. today at 3:00 eastern and live

here on cnn, gop presidential candidates take part in the palmetto freedom forum. south carolina senator jim demint is hosting it. former international monetary fund chief dominique strauss-kahn is back in france and sexual assault charges were dismissed against him in new york. his spokesperson says at some point strauss-kahn will comment on the accusations made against him. with tripoli in rebel control x libyan fighters set their sight on new targets. they've surrounded gadhafi's hometown of sirte and other towns loyal to the ousted leader. the demand is surrender by saturday or they will take the cities by force. they always seem to move the deadlines. >> they do keep moving them. one of the things is that they probably want to avoid a bloodbath and say okay, guys, surrender, you're surrounded there is no way out. now, the attention today is focusing on a place, carol,

called bonnie walid. that's one of the last bastions of support. the rebels are saying you got to surrender or they're going in. there are indications, carol, that suggest the rebels may go in sooner than the saturday date. we'll see. egypt, the former president hosni mubarak. is he still being brought in on a stretcher in. >> he was wheeled in on a stretcher. the trial is happening. what happened a few moments ago, there were major clashes outside the courtroom between families of victims of the uprising back in february and they were throwing stones and they were trying to basically storm the police academy where this trial is being held and then they were pushed back by police with batons. it's a scene outside. you can see there that this is what it looks like right now. but hosni mubarak is facing the

death penalty and charged with ordering killings of protesters during the uprising. >> let's talk about the american amman do knox. her appeal in italy resumes today. what do you expect to happen? >> everyone is kind of on their edge of their seats because what happened the last time this was in the headlines and she was in court is that there were two pieces of evidence that were seen as really, really crucial to the prosecution which was basically a dna material that they said was hers that was found on a knife and also dna material found on the victim's bra strap. what happened was they brought in forensic experts, they were independent and they essentially said for the genetic material on the knife, it was too small to even be permissible as evidence in the courtroom. so we don't really know which way this could go. amanda knox lucked out the last time. in a much stronger position than

when she had gone in of the we'll be watching. thanks zain verjee. many thanks to you. apple is one of the top companies. why is a major union leader calling them unpatriotic. we'll tell you after this break. it's 24 minutes past the hour. soy complex fn and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers.

[clucking] [clucking] [ding] [clucking] announcer: separate raw meats from other foods by using different cutting boards. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov.

good morning to you. it is monday, labor day, september 5th. happy labor day to you. i hope you're not laboring. this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello live from new york this morning. it's 27 minutes past the hour. president obama will spend his labor day in michigan a state hard hit by employment. in his annual address, the president is expected to preview his jobs plan to union workers

and their families in detroit. he'll unveil his entire plan in a speech on thursday night. the administration says it will lay out a series of steps that congress could act upon, including transportation and infrastructure initiatives. initiatives to help homeowners and tax breaks to support new hires. >> if you are not hiring, you're unpatriotic according to the international brotherhood of teamers james hoffa. on the state of the union, hoffa called apple, general electric and pfizer unpatriotic for opening factories and stores overseas instead of investing in employment right here in the united states. he said, big companies have a responsibility to get americans back to work and if they aren't doing that, president obama should call them out. >> i think the president should challenge the patriotism of these american corporations that are sitting on the sidelines saying why do we have high unemployment but i'm not going to hire anybody? they have an obl gax just like the federal government, just

like obama. we all have to get into the game. i don't see that happening. the trillions and billions of dollars on the sidelines, pfizer and general electric have trillions of dollars overseas. let's start a program to get america going again. tropical storm lee a tropical depression. it's spoiling a lot of holiday plans. so far the giant weather system has dumped a foot of rain on new orleans and causing extensive flooding in the gulf coast states. storm now expected to move up the east coast causing major travel delays. it could bring another one to three inches of rain to some northeastern states. still feeling the effects of the flooding from hurricane irene. lee is offering no relief to texas firefighters, though. strong winds instead are fueling wildfires scorching the landscape in that state. we've learned overnight two people have died in those fires. the largest has burned 14,000 acres and threatened 1,000

homes. 3 1/2 million acres have burned since last november. this is the worst fire season the state has seen. a container full of explosives has been stolen from the phoenix police. police say they were training bomb sniffing dogs at the airport when someone stole a cooler that held a pound of booster explosives which are commonly used in the mining industry. they say the explosives cannot be detonated without additional equipment and additional equipment. dominique strauss-kahn is back home in paris. he resigned as the imf chief in may after being charged with sexually assaulting a new york hotel maid. a judge threw out the case less than two weeks ago citing credibility issues with the accuser. his troubles are not over. he still faces a civil suit from that woman and another woman approximate france who accuse him of attempted rape. we now know about the u.s.

postal service and its financial troubles. according to one report, things may be coming to a head as soon as this month. not good. 31 minutes past the hour. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. now that's beautiful. any questions? no. you know... ♪ we're not magicians ♪ we can't read your mind ♪ ♪ read your mind ♪ we need your questions ♪ each and every kind ♪ every kind ♪ will this react with my other medicine? ♪ ♪ hey, what are all these tests even for? ♪ ♪ questions are the answer ♪ yeah ♪ oh

good morning to you. time for morning money news. let's go to christine romans. she's somewhere in this giant new york bureau keeping me company. >> hi, carol. >> good morning. good morning christine. happy labor day. >> happy labor day to you too. if you pick up the new york times this morning, carol, the front page, u.s. postal service may not be able to pay its bills as soon as this month. if congress doesn't do something to stabilize the finances of the post office, the postmaster general says they might have to completely shut down. completely shut down the post office by the winter. couple of different things going on here. many of the things you already know about. three billion pieces of mail that the usps handles every

week. but costs are going up and revenues down. it's really pinched and it could miss a $5.5 billion payment that it needs to make within the next month or so. watch this space. you know that they have asked for big layoffs. their union contracts, carol, have no layoffs clauses we're told. they've asked for layoffs for attrition and outright layoffs and other ways to cut back including closing down on saturdays. no saturday mail delivery. the post office will it continue, carol? >> let's talk about the market. was it a great week last week? what's the skrout look this week? >> it won't be worse today because it's closed today. stocks are not trading today. but this week, look, it's going to be about jobs in the u.s. what kind of razor-thin margin are we going to avert a second recession? you'll have a lot of double dip recessions. i guess, you know, odds making

this week. also watching europe and europe's debt crisis. there's a lot of things going on there. it's really all about jobs, carol. after friday's jobs report, when you saw the stock averages down about 1% each on that backdrop report. this is about who is going to have the plan to get things going on the jobs front. don't forget, this is the goose that latd golden egg, the american jobs market. every company, this is how they made all their money. they're looking overseas for investment and research and development, the like. what can be done for the biggest middle class to get its consumers jobs again. get things moving. that's what it's all about. >> all right. christine romans. see you in a bit. thanks so much. a penguin turned -- happy feet was released after two months of rehabilitation at new zealand's wellington sdploo. the wayward peng begin gained attention when he was found near death on a beach in june. he needed surgery to remove sand from his stomach which he aid.

he thought it was snow. happy feet slid off a ship to begin his 2,000 kilometer swim back to its breeding grounds. it took a little coaxing. but once happy feet was in the water, he was well on his way. >> pretty hearty birds. he got a nice layer of blubber. good luck. go find a mate. have children. avoid those orcas and seals. >> i'm sure happy feet will take her advice. happy feet, by the way, has been fitted with a microchip and satellite tracking. you can log on and actually follow happy feet's progress. go to our far south.org. that's what the website is called. to see happy feet's exact location. it's expected happy feet will join up with other penguins along the journey home. go happy feet. it is time to go smart now. we're tipping our hats to the american worker on this labor

day. so here's your question. how many people over the age of 16 are in the nation's labor force? is it 153 million,b, 175 million or 200 million? i'll have the answer in two minutes. it's 36 minutes past the hour.

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah

it is 38 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. before the break, we asked you this question. how many americans are in the workforce? i want to you look at the answers. i know you are bleary-eyed. the answer is a, 153 million people. of course the unemployment rate stands at the 9.1%. there are 14 million out there looking for jobs. now, it's time for our political ticker. let's bring in paul steinhauser live on the phone from columbia,

south carolina. paul, there's a big forum today. tell us about it. >> caller: you got it rg carol. it's called the american principals, project palmetto forum. it's a long name. we're here in south carolina and it's being organized by senator jim demint. it's here in south carolina, two-term republican. carol, he is really popular and very influential among tea party activists. michele bachmann, the congressman from minnesota, herm an cain, the former godfather's pizza ceo. rick perry. mitt romney. ron paul,s the congressman from texas and mitt romney the former massachusetts governor making a second run for the republican nomination. romney was a late entry, late add to the event. he decided in the last week that he was coming here. this is going to be the second tea party event. last night he was in new hampshire. he was at a tea party express rally. it's the first time since he's

declared for his candidacy that he's talked at a tea party rally. there are some people in the movement that were upset with him. they don't really feel maybe he's a true conservative and they had a counter rally right next to his rally. the dynamics today will be interesting. not a debate forum. they speak one at a time. we'll be here all day to find out what happens and the highlights, carol. >> we'll be waiting for that. let's talk about president obama. he gives a speech in michigan. also vice president biden is in ohio today. he's hanging out with union leaders. what's this all about? >> caller: kind of interesting. labor day, you would expect the democratic president and vice president to be at labor day rallies and union events. two states that barack obama needs to win next year to spend another four years in the white house. listen, michigan, the president did very well there back in '08. it's a state where he will have a tough time winning that state again in ohio. as you know, you're from there. this is one of the classic battleground states.

no surprise they would pick those two states today on labor day to try to energize the base. >> see if it works. because i know ohio is hurting big time when it comes to unemployment. paul steinhauser, thanks. let's take a quick look at sports. more like a quick look at cramps. rafael nadal had a bad one about two hours after he won his match at the u.s. open. look at him. it came during a news conference. you can tell the guy is in agony. he lowered himself to the floofrmt but a few minutes later, he was up on his feet and he was smiling. nadal blamed the cramp on the hot, humid weather. that looked painful. so baltimore, how did you like your first grand prix race? check out what happened during the warmup. >> this morning a few minutes into the morning warmup, canaan, the green and yellow car over his friend helio cass tra nef he is. he went to check on him. >> that happens all the time on

the street. i don't know why anyone is surprised. the crunching sound makes you cringe, doesn't it? that's what happens when the brakes fail at 180 miles per hour. neither driver was hurt. indy car driver willpower won the race. the course was laid out on baltimore city streets as you see. this is what an absolute blowout looks like. the detroit tigers beat the white sox 18-2 last night. yes, it was a three-game sweep. 18-2? look at all those tigers crossing the plate. one after the other. chicago didn't score until the ninth inning. so the tigers were tired and then the white sox scored. wow. that put the tigers way ahead in the central division. tropical storm -- tropical depression lee has gotten weaker but it's still soaking the gulf states. it's moving up the coast toward areas devastated by hurricane irene. but first on this day in history

in 1836, sam houston was elected ppt of the republic of texas. which won independence from mexico in a military rebellion. it would be nine years before texas would be admitted to united states as a state and sam houston helped in that process as well. it's 43 minutes past the hour. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred.

good morning to you. it is monday, september 5th. this is your a.m. wakeup call. happy labor day. i'm carol costello joining you live from new york this morning. it's 46 minutes past the hour. tropical depression lee is weaker but it's soaking the gulf coast on this labor day. it's dumped about a foot of water on parts of louisiana and mississippi where some roads and low-lying areas are underwater. our ed lavendera is there. >> good morning, carol. it's actually a very bizarre scene in this little area south of new orleans where we've seen, to give you an understanding, we're near the town near crown point. the various communities under mandatory evacuation orders in many parts. these are areas surrounded by the intercoastal waterways. several dozen miles away from the coastline. but what's happening is that this storm has slowly and painfully slowly moved on shore.

the winds are coming out of the south. this isn't a rain problem. this is more of a tidal surge problem. the winds from tropical storm lee are still pushing towards the north and that's pushing the water in, so this is a heavily wooded area. what's creepy is that the water slowly emerges from the woods and has overtaken roadways and threatening to spill into dozens of homes in these small communities. several roadways are shut down and there's a serious effort going on to try to control the flow of the water as much as possible. they're fighting that right now. as we speak, it is high tide. that makes the problem even worse at this point. what they're hoping for, carol, is that the winds will start to shift throughout the day today and when the winds start pushing back toward the south after the bulk of this storm passes by, then that will help the flooding and let the water begin to recede. they're waiting for those -- for that wind o shift back toward the south.

they feel that that will help them through this. >> i hope it does soon. ed lavender a near new orleans this morning. i saw something about lee's leftovers. they could dump more rain on upstate new york, new jersey and vermont. the last places that need rain right now. they're still dealing with irene's mess. let's check with rob marciano on the track. >> it's going to be a few days. lee is not very strong anymore. but it's going to be interacting with a very, very strong, at least for this time of year, cold front. that will crank the winds a little bit. more importantly, it's going to drag a lot of that moisture slowly up towards the north and east. here is some of that moisture. check it out on the radar scope. we have tornado watches in effect as well for a good chunk of the florida panhandle and parts of mississippi. couple of tornado warnings have been indicated just east the jackson. by the way, heavy rains across jackson mississippi at this hour. flooded roadways in that area. ten-plus inches recorded at new

orleans. baton rouge, seeing eight inches. biloxi and pass ka ghoul a seeing a lot of rain. extra tropical cyclone means it's getting in with that cold front dumping seven inches potentially on chattanooga, maybe five inches in knoxville across the tennessee valley. off to the appalachians we go. could see a couple of inches, maybe three or four in isolated spots in the hill or the terrain in the northeast. we're starting to see that moisture stream up. briefly, hurricane katia, winds now of 100 miles per hour. it's a category 2. it continues to head towards the coastline of the u.s. it was getting a little bit nervous there for a while. but now we're getting more confident a that the cold fronts coming across the northeast, they should push katia out to sea. it will bring in big waves. if you're traveling today, some atlanta delays because of the rainfall. same deal in new york. the heavy rains are moving in

this afternoon and d.c. and philadelphia as well. we'll be watching lee ironically enough, the winds which did not bring rain across texas have kind of an aggravated the wind situation for the fires that are happening over there. it would be easy if we could pull it from one spot and just kind of pop it in the other. that would be ideal. not the way it works. >> wouldn't that be great. >> i know. >> thank you, rob marciano. we talked about lee and katia. let's talk more about irene. as we know, it's gone. but it certainly has less than deep scars. president obama offering government help to the people whose homes and businesses were flooded out. he visited northern new jersey for a firsthand look at what people were dealing with there. this is where the passaic river spilled out of its banks and caused so much damage. >> the entire country is behind you. we're going to make sure we provide all the resource that is are necessary in order to help the communities rebuild. >> flood warnings were still in

effect over the weekend for parts of the passaic and compton rivers. drought stricken texas, the wildfires have claimed two lives. a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed when flames engulfed their mobile home. strong winds from lee have not helped. that system has fueled several fires throughout the state. one is threatening 1,000 homes. texas is dealing with its worst fire season ever. a record 3 1/2 million acres have burned since last november. talk libya now. with tripoli in rebel control, they have set their sights on new targets. they've surrounded sirte, gadhafi's hometown and a handful of other cities loyal to the ousted leaderment their demands, surrender by saturday or they will take the cities by force. u.s. officials say terrorists might try to use small planes to attack the united states. although they don't have any specific information about those plots. but they do can want state and local law enforcement to be aware and vigilant given the

ten-year anniversary of 9/11 is next sunday. the department of homeland security and the fbi sent out that bulletin on friday. new pictures from september 11th, 2001 surfaced nearly ten years later. these pictures were taken minutes after united airlines flight 93 crashed into a pennsylvania field. you will hear a man talking about what he sees. >> the remains of a airplane crash over on lambrasil road. probably had a terrorist bomb on board that blew up. don't know anything more than that. that's what i heard on the scanner. i just saw the smoke come up. and the explosion shook the house clear over here. we are, what, 15 miles from that area. it shook the heck out of -- >> the man who shot the pictures

has since died and his family does not want him identified. cnn will bring live coverage next sunday morning at 8:30 eastern and tonight at 11 eastern. don't miss the cnn special, beyond bravery, the women of 9/11. before we go, let's take a look at our word of the day. the word this morning, underemployed. find out what it means. i bet you know what it means already. find out why you need to know what it means after this short break. it's 53 minutes past the hour. ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah

56 minutes past the hoyer. this is your a.m. wakeup call. the word of the day. underemployed. the involume taun -- want a

full-time job and they're about 8.8 million americans underemployed much that's according to the bureau of labor statistics. so that means they have a job but not the kind of job they want. machine many of them could be competing with work with the 14 million unemployed americans still out there. president obama is making his jobs speech the same night as the nfl opening game. that's not sitting well with many people, including comedians. here's your punch line this morning. >> president obama is now agreed to move his jobs speech from september 7th to september 8th. it's the same night as football season starts. of course the main difference obama's job plan has a lot more hail marys in it. >> since his speech is on right before football, he knows how to promote. look how they're promoting the speech before the game. ♪ are you ready for some talking ♪ are you ready for optimistic revelry. are you ready to be listening? ♪ i'm going to talk about jobs and

stuff like this ♪ yeah. it's time for democrats and republicans too. ♪ >> wow. >> more exciting that way, doesn't it? the largest multimedia pop culture convention in the world. it takes place each year on labor day weekend in atlanta. now one of the most anticipated events of dragon con is the parade. take a look. >> hey a camera. >> dragoncon is the nerd super bowl and the parade is the shining event. it is the most fun on earth to have all year. >> what's so special about dragoncon is it's the largest fan-based run science fti